Water-wheel



2 Sheets-Sheet l.

H. S. HOLDER.

WATER WHEEL.

(No Model.)

IIo. 265,416.

Patented Oct; 3, 1882.

L n m 54 Phalo LihngnpMr. waminmbn. n. c.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. S. HOLDER,

WATER WHEEL.

Patented Oct. 3, 1882..

3 1 J4 fi Inremor Hillier;

Witnesses:

UNITED STATES ATENT Trice.

HENRY S. HOLDER, OF MACON, GEORGIA.

WATER-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 265,416, dated October3, 1882.

Application filed July 24, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY S. HOLDER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Macon, in the countyot'Bibband State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Water-Wheels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to lettersor figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to improvements in the class of water-wheels knownas currentwheels, and more particularly to that class of current-wheelswhich have avertical shaft with radial arms carrying hinged buckets.

Heretot'ore some wheels of this class have been constructed with devicesfor raising the entire wheel out of the water whenever it is desired tostop the wheel, and others with mechanism for lifting all the bucketsinto a horizontal position, or releasing them, so that they will allswing free with the current, or else locking all, so that they will allpresent a uniform resistance to the current. By means of my invention Iaccomplish the same result with a lilting device attached to the bucketson one side of the wheel only. If the buckets on one side of such awheel are raised into a horizontal position and held there, the wheelwill stop as soon as the raised buckets reach the resistance side of thewheel, for the buckets on the other side will be lifted by the current,and thus the mechanism will be aseffectual for the purposes as if itwere applied to all the buckets.

My invention consists of a lifting device at tached to a part of thebuckets of a currentwheel only.

It also consists of an improved device for raising the buckets of acurrent-wheel, consistside elevationof my water-wheel in operativeposition. Fig. 2 is a plan of the wheel, taken on the line or x ofFlg. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the wheel when stopped. Fig.4 isaplan view of the same, taken on the line y y; and Fig. 5 is an enlargeddetail view illustrating the operation of the collar and crank-leversfor raising the buckets. All of the views show the wheel as acted uponby the current.

The wheel is supported in a frame consisting of the upper and lowerhorizontal bars, A A, and the side timbers, B. This frame-work is placedbetween two piles, C, and slides vertica-lly between them by means oftongues and grooves, so that it can be raised for repairs.

The vertical shaft D of the heel has a proper step or hearing in thecenter of the lower bar, A, and also a bearing on the upper bar, A,above which it extends, and is provided with any suitable bevel gearingor pulley for communicating the power to the shore.

The wheel consists of the hub E, having the radial armsF extendingoutward from the top of the hub, the buckets or blades Gr, hingedto saidhorizontal arms, the vertical shoulders c, projecting from the hub, andagainst which the inner edges of the buckets bear when they are actedupon by the current, and the lower radial arms, H, extending outwardfrom the bottom of the wheel to sustain the pressure of the bucketsalong their lower edges.

For small wheels the arms H may be omitted, the shoulders 6 beingsufficient to sustain the buckets, and for very large wheels the ends ofthe arms F and H are properly connected and braced to give the necessarystrength.

I preferably construct the wheel with an odd number of buckets, and insuch cases one-half of the whole number of buckets less one are providedwith the lifting device. If the wheel has an even number of buckets,one-half of them are thus provided, in both cases thebuckets to beraised being contiguous. In the present case two of the buckets, g andgthe wheel illustrated having five-are provided with the crank or rocklever I, the center part or ends of which turns in bearingsj on the topof the hub. The lever is set so that its axis is parallel to the upperedge and hinge of the bucket, but slightly offset, so that its innerend, which is made with the short arm K, passes by the shaft in order tobring the arm K on the opposite side of the shaft from the bucket. Thelong arm L of the lever extends downward along the side of or behind thebucket, and the end of it moves in a guide, M, on the back of thebucket. Both arms of the cranklever are in the same plane.

Sliding on the shaft 1) above the wheel is a collar, N, having a broadhorizontal flange which comes just above the ends of the crankarms K.This collar is held up, when the wheel is running, by the connecting-rodO, pivoted at one end to the collar and at the other to the lever 1. Thelever P is pivoted at one end to one of the side bars, B, and has at theother end the ropes R S, fastened to said lever. These ropes pass roundproper guide pulleys I .s' to the shore, and may be carried into themill or wherever desired.

The operation of the wheel is as follows: If it is set for running, therope 1b is drawn taut, holding the collar N up free from the crankleverarms K, and the wheel will then run like others of its class. \Vhen itis desired to stop the wheel the rope R is loosened and the rope S ispulled, which pulls the lever P and the collar N down. The latter restsagainst the ends of the short arms K of the crank-levers until thebuckets g g, which are operated by said crank-levers, reach the upstreamside of the wheel and are raised by the current. The raising of thebuckets by the current depresses the short arms K of the levers andallows the collar to fall or be pulled down onto them. The wheel thenturns until its momentum is exhausted, and finally stops with the raisedbuckets g on the downstream side, as shown by Figs. 3 and 4.

The object of extending the crank lever I beyond the shaft D is to usethe rotation of the wheel and the friction between the arms K and thecollar N to assist in raising the buckets and holding them up whenraised. As the collar is stationary, the force generated by the frictionof the arms against it tends to depress the levers, while if the arm Kwere between its bucket and the main shaft the same force would tend toraise the lever-arm, and consequently lower the bucket.

The axes of the cranlrlevers are adjusted by bearings j of diiferentheights, so that their ends can cross or lap over each other withoutinterfering.

It the crank-levers do not pass by the shaft to the opposite side, thenan arm fastened to the bucket in line with the axis of the hinge andhaving an upturned end will answer in place of the crank-leverdescribed.

It will be evident that the wheel will operate and can be stopped andstarted if entirely submerged or if set with only the buckets underwater, thus making it safe from damage by freshets or high water.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A water-wheel having hinged buckets, and mechanism for throwing onlya part of the buckets out of actiomso that the wheel can stop by reasonof the non-resistance of the hinged buckets swinging free on theirhinges on the upstream side of the wheel, and the non-resistance of thebuckets held out of action by said mechanism on the downstream side ofthe wheel, substantially as set forth.

2. In a water-wheel, the combination of a vertical shaft havinghorizontal arms carrying hinged buckets with mechanism for raising apart only of the buckets, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a water-wheel having a vertical shaft, hub, and horizontal armswith hinged buckets, the combination, with one or more of the hingedbuckets, of a crank-lever having axis I, journaled to thehub, arm L,attached to the bucket, and arm K on the opposite side of the shaft fromthe bucket, in combination with a collar on the shaft, as and for thepurpose set forth.

4. The combination of the end-pivoted lever P, ropes R S, pulleys r s,connecting-rod O, and sliding collar N with the'crank-arms K, hingedbuckets Gr, radial arms F, shaft 1), and a suitable frame-work, as andfor the purpose herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I atIix my signature in presence oftwo witnesses.

IIEU. LY S. HOLDER.

Witnesses:

(J. S. BUNDY, STORY B. LADD.

